The Far-Out Threes of Kendall Marshall

Kendall Marshall was never going to get away with not getting a little column here. Not after he made a shot from well, well beyond half court at the end of the first quarter in Dallas the other night (visual evidence at the 0:28 mark in the video above).

After six regular season NBA weeks, not one player has made a shot from beyond half court. Marshall netted one a good second after the first quarter buzzer. And so teams are still a combined 0-for-112. Last season, there were 16 makes. Prediction remains: The Bucks will make one this season. 

But this story is not about shots from beyond half court. This story is about a different type of shot that also counts as three points and is also further away than usual from the basket.

Here is the distance of the NBA 3-point line: 22 feet in the corners ranging to 23.75 feet behind the top of the key.

Here are the distances of Marshall’s made 3-pointers in feet this season: 26, 26, 26, 26, 28, 26, 27, 26, 26.

These are approximates. Nonetheless. All nine of his 3-point makes have come from at least two feet beyond the arc. That is a lot. Not only that, Marshall is converting at a 60.0 percent clip on threes in that same 26-to-28-foot range (compared to his 0-4 mark from 23-to-25 feet).

This is all very not normal. Except for Marshall, this is all very quite normal.

In a way it makes sense that Marshall would make an absurdly long heave, a shot from beyond half court. Think about it as something like a full court pass. If you could pick anyone on the team to drop a centimeter-perfect full court pass on top of the basket, it would probably be Marshall. Marshall or Jason Kidd, I guess.

But what about these shots from a couple feet behind the 3-point line?

Well it wasn’t always like this for Marshall. Over his two college seasons at North Carolina, he shot 36.6 percent on threes. In his first season in the NBA he struggled from long distance, making just 31.5 percent. Then he made an adjustment last year.

Marshall has a distinctive long-range shooting form. It is consistent. And it works well, provided he has enough time and space. It goes something like this: catch, bring ball down to near-waist level, bend knees, cup side of ball with right hand, jump as though you are jumping over a penny and only a penny, push forward with left, hold follow-through. Something like that.

Last season with the Lakers, Marshall explained his new shooting situation like so:

Naturally this form lends itself to catch-and-shoot opportunities far better than off-the-dribble attempts. Of his nine threes with the Bucks this season, the majority have been catch-and-shoot types, and just two have been preceded by more than a single dribble. Defenders have been at least four feet away from Marshall on all of his nine 3-pointers.

Since the start of the 2013-14 season, only four players have made more threes from beyond 27 feet than Marshall. Some of the names may be familiar.

Even better: out of the top 10 above, Marshall ranks second in accuracy at 42.6 percent, trailing only Klay Thompson. With the Bucks, Marshall is 2-for-3 on threes from beyond 27 feet.

What is next?

Well, after making exactly zero in his first two NBA seasons, Marshall happens to also be 2-for-3 on another type of shot with the Bucks. The hook shot.

(Credit to basketball-reference for the shooting chart above and to stats.nba.com for additional stat magic.)